Problems with STK addons (Ubuntu version)

[hungryfox21]

Hi,

I have been playing STK for about 5 years, on Ubuntu 14.04 OS. I downloaded it from the ubuntu repository, and its Supertuxkart Version SVN, which is probably an older version. I used to have no problems downloading and installing Addons inside the game, until last year. Now it doesn't work at all, and I just get an error message: "Sorry, an error occurred while trying to contact the Addons website".

I managed to download a track from the STK website at <https://online.supertuxkart.net/addons.php?type=tracks>, but I don't know how to install it this way. Can anyone here show me how to do it?

[benau]

Try latest version?

https://github.com/supertuxkart/stk-cod ... es/tag/1.2

[QwertyChouskie]

Ubuntu 14.04 is very old and hasn't been supported with any updates for almost 2 years. I would highly recommend updating to at a minimum 16.04 if you really want Unity (will receive updates until ~April), or preferably 20.04 (at least 4 more years of updates).

[tempAnon093]

Like QwertyChouskie says, the best solution is to upgrade to the current version of Ubuntu (20.04).

It is possible to install tracks directly by unzipping the downloaded tracks into the addons/tracks folder (where it is located will depend on if you downloaded a normal install or a snap) but I wouldn't bother doing that unless there is a reason that you can't upgrade Ubuntu, because if you don't upgrade your OS, it will become increasingly likely that more issues will occur or that other programs will break.

[hungryfox21]

Ok ok! So I have an old version of ubuntu, yes indeed, but I have a good reason because my hardware matches it perfectly!!! When I tested the newer releases they all hogged my resources, especially RAM, and I dont want to upgrade my 8GB RAM right now. Thanks for all the quick replies though. Much appreciated.

Now I just need to search for the addons/tracks folder.

[wax]

I highly doubt the lastest gnome versions (3.30+) (20.10/20.04 and even before I think) are heavier than Unity. Though you can change to lxqt which is much lighter (install lubuntu or apt install lxqtpackage).
The track folder is /.local(hidden folder)/share/supertuxkart/addons/tracks
If you installed from Snap it is in snap/supertuxkart/and search :P

[wax]

Oh wait I know why 16.04+ are heavier lol. It's because snap is installed on 16.04+ unlike 14.04. You should just remove snapd. (Anyway it's bad.)

[QwertyChouskie]

On my systems, the main memory guzzler is actually the Ubuntu Software/Gnome Software app, which runs in the background as a service. Sometimes it uses close to 1GB of RAM alone. (Ubuntu 16.04 was also the first release to use this version of the app.) Just uninstall that and you're good. Modern Gnome is surprisingly light and responsive otherwise, it even enticed me away from good 'ol Xubuntu That being said, if you need as light as possible, Xubuntu 20.04 would probably be your best bet, although I ran Gnome just fine on my 8GB RAM system before I upgraded to a new laptop.

Also, the addons you download from the current addons site will not be compatible with the old version of STK, STK will detect the incompatibility and just not show the track. Specifically, the model format has completely changed from B3D to STK's own SPM format, among other internal changes.